Aruna Bio, Inc., a leader in the development of neural exosomes for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, announced the appointment of James Paskavitz, MD, as Vice President of Research and Development. A board-certified neurologist and central nervous system (CNS) expert, Dr. Paskavitz has been involved in the development of numerous therapies for neurodegenerative diseases as an investigator in multiple clinical trials and medical director at several leading biotechnology and contract research companies including Biogen, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Parexel and Sage Therapeutics. Most recently, Dr. Paskavitz was Senior Medical Director at Sage Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies for central nervous system and brain disorders. In addition to fourteen years of drug development experience, Dr. Paskavitz has over fifteen prior years of clinical experience including outpatient treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and inpatient intensive care neurology.

“We are very pleased to strengthen our R&D expertise in the area of neurodegenerative diseases and enhance our executive leadership team with the addition of Dr. Paskavitz,” said Dr. Mark Sirgo, Chief Executive Officer. “Jim brings significant preclinical and clinical drug development experience, particularly in the areas of neurodegenerative diseases and stroke, and is ideally suited to lead Aruna Bio’s R&D efforts as we advance into the clinic a portfolio of novel products utilizing our neural exosomes and progress toward the filing of our first IND in 2021.”

At Sage Therapeutics, Dr. Paskavitz served as clinical program lead for a number of products in development for CNS and neurodegenerative diseases and was responsible for designing and leading first in human studies and efforts to support IND development and submission. Prior to joining Sage, Dr. Paskavitz was Medical Director at Biogen where along with leading the company’s Parkinson’s Disease imaging and technology program, he facilitated early stage development in the areas of Alzheimer’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Multiple Sclerosis. Prior to Biogen, Dr. Paskavitz served as Medical Director, Neurology Clinical Development, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and as CNS Imaging Medical Director at Parexel.

Dr. Paskavitz has been involved as an investigator in multiple clinical studies in the areas of Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s Disease, among other neurodegenerative diseases, has served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementia and has both published extensively and held numerous academic appointments. A particular area of interest and research has been in the use of technology and imaging biomarker development to enhance clinical trial efficacy signals. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed his neurology residency and fellowship in behavioral neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.